(1) Field of the Invention
The invention pertains generally to controlling access to a network service provided over a computer network of a hospitality establishment. More specifically, the invention relates to allowing a guest of the hospitality establishment to access the network service from multiple guest devices.
(2) Description of the Related Art
Hospitality establishments such as hotels and resorts often provide high speed Internet access (HSIA) to guests. A guest typically connects a guest device to the hotel's computer network, either through a physical cable such as Ethernet or a wireless connection such as Wi-Fi™, and opens a web browser to access a website on the Internet. Instead of allowing guest devices immediate access to the Internet, a control system at the hotel acts as a captive portal and requires the guest to first log in at a predetermined login portal. To this end, a gateway or firewall controlling access between the local area network (LAN) of the hotel and the Internet includes a default rule that causes unauthorized guest devices to display the login portal in the web browser.
At the login portal the guest signs up for Internet access. When the guest is an individual staying at the hotel, the guest enters their room number and other personal details, selects a desired bandwidth level and other options such as access duration etc., provides payment information, and performs other actions such as agreeing to terms and conditions. The control system only authorizes the guest device to access the Internet after the guest has successfully completed the login process at the login portal. By the control system adding to the firewall a device-specific rule that allows data to flow between the Internet and the unique media access control (MAC) address of the authorized guest device, only guest devices from which guests of the hotel have properly logged in at the login portal are provided HSIA.
Guests often bring more than one personal electronic device with them when they travel. For example, a guest may bring a laptop computer, a mobile phone, and a tablet computer; and may expect each to receive Internet access while at the hospitality establishment. With many simple hotel Internet control systems, the guest will need to complete the full sign-up procedure at the login portal on each of their personal devices to gain Internet access. This is both troublesome to the guest and may result in billing the same guest multiple times, e.g., charging separately for each of their devices.
More sophisticated hotel Internet control systems attempt to solve the multi-device problem for individual guests by providing a button labeled “Already purchased?” on the homepage of the hotel's login portal. When a guest clicks this button the login portal brings up an overlay screen allowing the guest to enter their last name and room number to confirm they have already purchased an HSIA package. The login portal searches the billing records to determine whether the last name and room number entered by the guest at the login portal match the billing records for an already purchased Internet package. When yes, the new guest device is provided Internet access without rebilling or requiring further payment information from the guest at the login portal. In some deployments, the guest needs to have already purchased a higher-priced Internet package at the hotel to enable this multi-device capability. For example, a “Premium” HSIA package may be up to four times faster than a “Standard” package and may include support for up to three guest devices.
However, some guests are poor typists and may misspell their last name, and other guests may deliberately enter fake names due to privacy concerns when signing up for Internet access over a hotel's wireless network, for example. If the guest spells their last name differently when first purchasing HSIA access than when subsequently trying to log in an additional device, the inconsistent name spellings will prevent the guest from logging in the additional device for free. In another example, two individuals with different last names may be sharing a hotel room. In this case, one guest may be blocked from logging in an additional device for free if they misspell the other guest's last name as it was entered during the initial login process. Although problems involving an additional device being blocked from free login due to name misspellings are often solvable by the guest retrying with the correct spelling, there are certain situations where the assistance of hotel technical support staff is required. For example, the guest may simply not remember what name (or spelling) was utilized during the initial purchase.
Furthermore, some user devices brought to hotels are unable to be logged in at a web-based login portal because the devices either do not include web browsing technology or do not permit the guest to access the login portal. Examples of guest devices that do not include web browsing technology include standalone teleconferencing webcam appliances, routers, Internet Protocol (IP) telephones, and other IP-enabled devices that lack a user interface capable of displaying the login portal or allowing the guest to enter the required login information. Examples of guest devices that do not permit the guest to access the login portal include locked-down corporate and military laptops and equipment configured to only connect with a designated destination such as a fixed server address accessed via a company or military virtual private network (VPN). In order for a guest to connect one of these devices to the Internet as a free additional device added on to their already purchased account, they will need to contact hotel technical support staff to have the device manually cleared through the firewall.
Requiring guests to contact support staff both increases the support costs of the hospitality establishment's HSIA service and negatively impacts the guest experience. It would be desirable if the Internet access control system did not solely rely on verifying information entered by the guest at a web-based login portal in order to determine that an unrecognized guest device is actually an additional device of a guest who has already purchased an Internet package.